Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Building Societies Act 1965

Management and administration - Office management

89: Office management

You could also call this:

"How to keep important papers safe in your building society"

You need to make sure your society keeps all its important papers safe. These papers include things like mortgage documents, deeds, and ownership papers.

Your society must have a system to keep these papers secure. This system should work like this: whenever someone needs to take out one of these important papers, they must get permission. This permission can come from the board of directors or from someone the board has chosen to give permission.

If you're a director of a society, you have to make sure this system is followed. If you don't try your best to make sure this happens, or if you purposely break these rules, you could get in trouble. You might have to go to jail for up to 6 months, pay a fine of up to $400, or both.

But don't worry! If you're accused of not trying your best to follow these rules, you can defend yourself. You can show that you really believed a good, trustworthy person was in charge of following these rules and could do the job well.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM372033.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Banking and loansHousing and property > Buying and selling homes
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Part 7Management and administration
Office management

89Office management

  1. Every society shall establish and maintain a system to ensure the safe custody of all mortgage instruments, deeds, and documents of title belonging to or held by the society.

  2. A society shall not be taken to have established a proper system under this section unless, under the system, on each occasion on which any such instrument, deed, or document of title is released from such safe custody, the consent is obtained of the board of directors or of a person authorised by the board to give such consent.

  3. If a director of a society—

  4. fails to take all reasonable steps to ensure compliance by the society with this section; or
    1. has by his or her own wilful act been the cause of any default by the society thereunder—
        1. he commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding $400, or to both.

      1. It shall be a defence to a charge of an offence against paragraph (a) of subsection (3) to prove that the person charged had reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, that a competent and reliable person was charged with the duty of seeing that the requirements of this section were complied with and was in a position to discharge that duty.

      Compare
      • Building Societies Act 1962 ss 76(3)–(5), 79(1) (UK)
      Notes
      • Section 89(3): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).